Around 20 years ago, my father began planting nut trees. He knew that it would take more than a decade (sometimes two) before they would begin producing fruit. He planted a row of 4 and then added more over the years. Now there are about a dozen of them. The two largest ones are gorgeous, … [Read more…]
***Photos by Amber Robichaud, Tey Steenbergen, Zaak Robichaud*** Another trek for the books is complete: Cycle the entire east coast of New Brunswick. I did this with my long time friend, Tey and Amber supporting us from the comfort of cafes, parks, info centres, and thrift stores. She definitely earned the leisurely week after a … [Read more…]
In my quest to deepen my understanding of my faith, it has become apparent that if I don’t pay attention to the Incarnation I will have missed the point. I explain in Episode 4 how I arrived at this critical belief when Jacqui, my collaborator and pastor, interviews me. I won’t expound here. Jacqui and … [Read more…]
I suppose I’ll blog about why we backpacked for a solid month another time, for now, I’ll focus on journey. On the eve of July 1, 2019, my son Blaise and I flew to St. John’s, Newfoundland and met up with my father, Robi. We spent Canada Day wandering around in the fog – literally … [Read more…]
A couple weeks ago, Blaise and I headed out on our second 3-night/4-day backpacking trip. This time we tackled the local Elbow Loop which follows the Big Elbow upstream then at Tombstone pass crosses over and follows the Little Elbow back downstream to where the two meet to form the Elbow River which flows into … [Read more…]
Since we are planning on a monumental backpacking trip as a right of passage for Blaise in the coming summers, we had to get started with some short trips this summer – both to test equipment and our legs. I decided on a three night in-and-out with a couple day hikes between the heavy lifting … [Read more…]
This is my first backpacking trip. Car camping, cycling camping, canoe camping, but never backpacking. Apparently, this is a pretty tough one to begin on, but it is definitely a good one to get me hooked on backpacking. My companions are the same three from the Cannonball Run: Kris, Ty and Glen. Kris and Ty have both … [Read more…]
We make a little getaway to the mountains on Fathers’ Day weekend. As a part of that we venture into Kananaskis to enjoy the alpine air, stroll by wild strawberries and feel the spray of an early summer waterfall. The Troll Falls loop near the currently green Nakiska Ski Hill is about an hour drive from Calgary. … [Read more…]
We take a hike in Calgary a couple weeks ago based on a trail in the book Calgary’s Best Walks by Lori Beattie. Amber decides on Edgemont Hills and Ravines which takes us just north of where we live. We climb up to the ridge on the prairie scrub, golden grasses dotted with glistening violet crocuses. … [Read more…]
A couple weeks ago my longtime friend Jeff “no relation” Robichaud took me up in a Cessna west of Calgary. Jeff and I have known each other since 1983. All those years, he’s demonstrated that he likes to master things. I think getting his pilot’s license a few years back is a vestige of having … [Read more…]